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' G. E. MOORE.

PROCESS OF TREATING COTTON SEED HULLS.

Patented Feb. 1, 1887.

ATTORNEYS N. PFI'ERS. Phnko-Lilhognphar. Washingtbm 0,0

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

GIDEON E. MOORE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PROCESS TREATING COTTON-SEED HULLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 357,089, dated February1, 1887.

' Application filed August 27, 1885: Serial No. 175,495. (No specimens!To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, GIDEON E. MboRE, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have inventeda new and useful Improvement in Processes of Treating Cotton-Seed Hulls,of which the following is a specification.

Cotton-seed after it has been separated from the cotton is surrounded bya hull to which is attached a considerable quantity of cotton fiber thatcan only be removed with greatdifficulty. When these hulls, togetherwith ,the adhering fibers, are removed from the oil-bicaring portions orkernels of the seed, they constitute a mass, which in the followingdescription will be designated the husks, ,and which consists ofportions of the broken hulls and of the fibers adhering to these brokenhulls. r

The object of my invention is to utilize these husks by separatingthefibers from the broken hulls and rendering them available forpaperpulp;

The mechanism which may be used in car rying out my invention isillustrated in the accompanying drawing, which represents ,alongitudinal section.

I first take the husks and grind them in a mill orstamp-battery of anysuitable construction until the fibers have become, as far as pbssible,detached from the broken hulls and the latter have become reduced to asuitable degree of fineness. In practice it is convenient to grindsuccessively to different degrees of fineness, sifting the material fromtime to time. In this way much of the non-fibrous portion may be made topass through the sieve while the fibers ball together and remain on thesieves. The grinding and sifting may be done-either wet or dry and bythe use of sieves or screens of any known or suitable construction.WVhen sufficiently ground, the mass is composed of more or lessfinelyground particles of the hulls and of loose fibers. It possessesastrong tend:- ency to ball together, felt, or agglomerate into lumps.

For the purpose of effecting the separation of, the fibrous from thenon-fibrous portions I subject the ground husks to the followingtreatment: The sufficiently-ground mixture, if moist or wet, afterprevious drying, is, either with or without previous sifting, treated byan injected air-current, which loosens the mixtu re and forces it onwardinto a moving body of compressed air in a series of chambers, whereinthe current is made to impinge on the walls or sides of the chamber orothersuitable deflecting-surfaces, so that the suspended particles maystrike thereon and rebound. The angular or rounded particles of thehulls possess a much smaller surface in proportion to their mass thanthe fibrous particles, and their mass is as a rule greater. Theytherefore strike with greater force against the deflecting-surfaces,rebound farther, and, losing their momentum, subside sooner than thefibrous particles, which, on account, also, of their greater surface,are carried farther by the aircurrent than the particles of non-fibrousform.

When the blast of air, carrying with it the suspended particles, entersthe first chamber of the series, the compressed air suddenly ex} pands,whereby the tendency of the material to pack or agglomerate into massesis counteracted, and any such that may have formed are again broken upand the particles of which they are composed are diffused throughout theair. In working with large quantities of material it is convenient thatno subsidence should take place in the first chamber, and

for this reason the said chamber may be provided with one or morebeaters. The first chamber is by this means transformed into abeating-machine, whereby the'action of the blast in dififusingtheparticles through the air is sustained and promoted. The blades or teethof the beating-machine may be set at any ICO the momentum of theparticles diminishes and their subsidence is facilitated so that at lasta point is reached where the suspended parti'-' cles are chiefly offibrous character, except fora certain proportion of fine dustyparticles of ground hulls. At this point, if the air-current be allowedto escape into a large chamber wherein it may freely expand, thesuspended fiber will subside from the air and may be collected andremoved by any suitable means.

When the force of the air-blast has been suitably adjusted to the sizeand weight of the particles contained in the mixture and to the size ofthe chambers or compartments used, the material that settles in thefirst chamber will be found to consist, chiefly,of the refuse of thehulls and other non-fibrous material, while the fibrous particles arecarried farther and deposited in the more remote chambers orcompartments. In this operation, instead of a series of chambers, asingle chamber divided by walls or partitions conveniently placed may beused. The expansion of the air-blast is controlled either by the progressive increase in the size of the chambers or compartments or by thevalves placed at the points of entrance or exit of the blast into orfrom the chambers, or both means may be used in combination, as desired.The fiber so obtained is dark in color and only adapted to themanufacture of articles more or less coarse as, forexample, the coarserkinds of paper.

To purify it still further, I treat it by digest-v ing it with orwithout the aid of heat-,and with or without pressure,with asolutionofcausticor carbonated alkali, preferably with a caustic soda solutionof about 5 Baum, whereby the coloring-matter and other impurities are toa large extent rendered soluble in water, and may be removed by washingwith water, leaving a product of light color, that may be rendered verywhite by bleaching with chloride of lime or other suitable bleachingagent. After washing and drying, the product is then a pure white fiberadapted to paper-making and the otherindustrial applications of groundcotton fiber. If it should be found, however, that the washed and driedproduct be not entirely free from colored specks, it may be reblown,whereby a pure white product may be obtained.

In the accompanying drawing, the letters a a a represent mills, of anysuitable or wellknown construction, in which the husks, eitherpreviously more or less separated by grinding and sifting or not, areground. I) b are the chutes by which the ground husks are conveyed tothe bin 0, where they meet the cur rent of air from the fan or blower(I, and are carried therewith into the beating-machine c, where thesolid particles and air are intimately mixed by rotating-heaters p 1)playing between the projections 0 0 on the sides of the machine.

In the drawing thecontents of the bin 0 are represented as being drawninto contact with the blast from the blower by suction. \Vhen thecharacter of the material does not admit of this action, the materialmay be fed to the blast by a screw-feed or other suitable device openingeither into the chamber or enlargement of the blast-pipe or applied atany other suitable part of the machine.

From the beating-machine the current enters the chamber f, where thecoarser and heavier particles subside to the bottom, while the currentcarrying the finer particles next enters the chamber 9, where it strikesagainst the partition h, passing downward and under the partition andagain ascending until it reaches the outlet, which can be provided witha valve, j, by means of which thepressure ot'the air is regulated andthe rate of subsidence in the chamber 9 is controlled. In the chamber 9the finer and lighter non-fibrous substances are deposited, while thecurrent, carrying now chiefly the purified fibers, enters the chamber70, where most of the fiber subsides. From the chamber lathe currentpasses through one or more pipes, Z, provided with a number of bags offlannel, mm,or other porous material, in which more or less fiber thatmay fail to subside in the chamber 7; is caught while the airfiltersthrough the cloth and escapes; or in lieu of,,these bags the air fromthe chamber It may pass through a chamber, where it may be washed by ajet or jets of water or by allowing steam to condense therein, so as toremove any fiber that it may carry with it. The bottoms of the chambersf g It are inclined and can be provided with troughs in which endlessserews n n n are placed. These screws receive the deposited substancesand convey them out of the chamber into suitable receptacles. By meansof weighted valves on the tubes or spouts, into which the screws n n aforce the deposited substances, the escape of air from the chambers can'be prevented and the action of the screws n n n automaticallycontrolled.

In my process the grinding to which the husks are subjected also grindsthe fibers, and by exposing the ground husks to the air-floating processabove described the fiber is obtained almost free from any foreignmaterial. It is at once ready for such purposes as, for instance, makingpaper-pulp, and it needs no further preparation than may be required tobreak up the lumpsand desseminate the fiber through the water in thepaper-machine.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The within-described process of treating the husks of cotton-seed,which consists in first grinding the same, then causing the particles ofthe ground mixture to float in a current of air, then precipitating themfrom this current at different places so as to effect a separation ofthe non-fibrous from the fibrous particles, and finally subjecting thefibrous particles to the action of an alkali and a bleaching agent,substantially as described.

2. The process herein described for treating cotton-seed hulls for themanufacture of paper-pulp, which consists in grinding the hulls with theattached fiber, injecting the IIC ground mixture by 'a blast of air intoa m oving body of compressed air, beating up the same with the air, andconducting the'mixture of air and ground material into a suitablechamber or arrangement of chambers wherein the air is controlled in itsmovements and escapes, so as to permit of the separate subsidence of thefibrous and non-fibrous'parti cles, substantially as described.

3. The process herein described for treating cotton-seed hulls for themanufacture of paper-pulp, which consists in grinding the hulls with theattached fiber and treating the same by an injected air-current, whichloosens the-mixture and forces it onward intoa 15. moving body ofcompressed air in a suitab1e chamber or arrangement of chambers, whereinthe air is controlled in its movements and escapes, so as to permit ofthe separate subsidence of the fibrous and non-fibrous particles, 20substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

GIDEON E. MOORE. [L. s.]

Witnesses:

WM. 0. HAUFF, E. F. KASTENHUBER.

